Author: RapidFire

This past fall, ethical sports brand Luta launched in the United States. Luta is a lifestyle clothing brand and apparel company geared towards the fighting and boxing market. So what better way to reach this market, than advertising in a video game that millions of their target audience is playing!?

The campaign that Luta is running is a Dynamic In-Game Advertising campaign in the video game Fight Night Champion, for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. Fight Night Champion is widely regarded as one of the best Boxing video games of all time.

The advertisements take the form of posters and banners situated throughout the video game, and are delivered in real-time to gamers who are playing with an active internet connection, in this case over Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network.

Below we’ll take a look at some screenshots of the ads in action.

Above, we cansee the ad against the back wall of the arena. It’s easily viewable throughout the entire match. This is meant to simulate a real-world boxing arena where there is often a heavy sponsorship presence.

In the image above, the ad takes the form of a rectangle sitting ontop of the judges table. There are eight of these ad placements surrounding the ring.

To learn more about Dynamic In-Game Advertising or to start a campaign, contact us at:http://www.rapidfire.com/contact-us

Wiser’s has recently launched a wicked advertising campaign on Xbox Live, in which they promote their new Spiced Whiskey. The ad campaign has a lot of interesting and creative functions which includes various videos, downloads, and even several whiskey beverage recipes.

Wiser’s is a Canadian Whiskey produced by Corby Distilleries, and has roots dating back to 1857 in Prescott, Ontario. Their new Spiced Whiskey was just recently launched this past fall of 2012.

Below, we’ll walk you through the campaign and describe the fantastic aspects and functionalities.

After clicking on the Tile in the main Dashboard, Xbox Live users are taken to a virtual ‘Man Cave’ (Pictured Above), which features a billiards table, a big screen TV, and even a bar. In the virtual man cave, users have the option to click on 4 things – the Spiced Whiskey bottle, the TV, the Billiards Table, and the Laptop.

After clicking on the Spiced Whiskey bottle, users are taken to a gallery that contains several drink recipes that feature Whiskey of course (Pictured Above).

Next on the journey, users can click on the TV that’s hanging on the wall. Here, we’re taken to a gallery where we can watch three video ads (Pictured Above).

After clicking on the pool table, users are given the opportunity to download the ‘That’s Spiced Up’ theme. An Xbox Live Theme is essentially the same sort of thing as a Desktop Background on a PC.

The last function of the Wiser’s campaign, is the map where one can find the exact places to get their hands on the Spiced Whiskey. What’s cool about this map is the fact it uses geo-targeting to automatically display the appropriate region. In my case, I live in Canada, so the ad displayed a map of Canada, and also specifically Vancouver which is the city I’m from.

To learn more about Advertising on Xbox Live or to start a campaign, contact us at: http://www.rapidfire.com/contact-us/

Century 21 is just the latest of many companies to benefit from in-game advertising, and perhaps one of the first ever real-estate companies to innovatively and effectively utilize this channel. Of the many types of in-game advertising, they’ve selected the channel of Facebook In-Game Advertising.

For those of you that don’t know, Century 21 is a one of the World’s largest real estate agent franchises. There are currently over 8,000 independently owned and operated offices in more than 73 countries and territories.

Last fall Century 21 saw success utilizing Facebook game advertising, and has once again decided to do so this holiday season. From December 20, 2012 to January 9, 2013, you’ll be able to find Century 21 in the Facebook game ‘The Sims Social’. Gamers will be able to earn virtual currency by using Century 21-branded items, like a fireplace they can use to “warm” their virtual homes.

The campaign that Century 21 ran last fall in the game ‘SimCity Social’ won them a social marketing campaign award from the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. That campaign generated 5.4M Century 21-branded welcome screen views, 401K Century 21 virtual buildings placed and 300K views of Century 21 video ad spots.

To learn more about In-Game Advertising, or to start a campaign, contact us at: http://www.rapidfire.com/contact-us

Dynamic In-Game Advertising has been around for just a handful of years, yet it’s already one of the hottest digital advertising channels around.

For those of you that don’t know, Dynamic In-Game Advertising is a type of advertising inside video games that can be implemented, updated, and/or changed in real-time. It popularly takes the form of predetermined placements such as billboards, posters, and banners within video games. It’s great for advertisers looking to geo-target their campaigns, or deliver a time sensitive promotion. The avenues of delivery will typically include hit games for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles.

The effectiveness of Dynamic In-Game Advertising is completely reliant on the success of the video game advertising as a whole, and it’s pretty easy to see that the video game industry is getting bigger and bigger every year. The gaming industry has grown so much over the past few years, that it’s now the largest form of entertainment in the World, having surpassed Hollywood in annual revenue.

Despite the statistics and proven effectiveness, some game developers are still hesitant to implement in-game advertising into their video games, as they fear gamers will protest the $60 price tag on the video games. You see, there is a small community of gamers that believe paying $60.00 for a video game, should exclude them from being served ads. Well, unfortunately this is quite unrealistic, as I can think of a dozen counter-examples of consumer businesses that charge for products and services, and still successfully serve ads.. For instance, I pay a large monthly fee for my TV plan and I get served commercials, or when I pay my outrageous transit fees I still get hit with ads on the subway.

As a gamer myself, I would agree with the “if I pay, then no ads” mentality if the ads were obtrusive, and ruined the overall gameplay experience. However, in-game advertising is the complete opposite of obtrusive, it actually helps add realism to the games and enhances the overall gameplay graphics.

With such a massive audience with millions of gamers, it’s clear that the in-game advertising channel is an absolute must for advertisers. And as long as game publishers continue to support in-game advertising, and it becomes the norm for publishers/game developers to jump onboard with integration, In-Game Advertising will have an incredibly bright future

To learn more about Dynamic In-Game Advertising, or to start a campaign, contact us: http://www.rapidfire.com/contact-us